Health is binary. If you aren’t sick or injured, you’re considered healthy. Health care becomes most relevant after we become sick. (Maybe we should call it sick care?) Consumers are alienated from—even hostile to—a health care system that, despite its enormous costs, offers little to protect and enhance their everyday well-being.
Wellness, on the other hand, is rooted in the idea that well-being flows along a continuum. Our daily choices and behaviors, along with our environment, genetics and access to care, add to or subtract from our wellness.
Wellness is fundamentally proactive. Sick or healthy, we can always improve and protect our well-being. Consequently, we think about wellness in the context of our daily lives. And wellness is holistic, supporting our well-being in mind, body and spirit.
Wellness is where the action is.
